LONDON, Oct 31 — British billionaire James Dyson failed in a libel claim over a Channel 4 News story about alleged abuse at a former supplier’s factory today after a judge ruled the broadcast was “simply not about him”.
Dyson and two subsidiaries of his eponymous company sued Channel Four Television and Independent Television News over the story broadcast on Feb. 10, 2022, which centred on ATA Industrial, a Malaysian company that made Dyson-branded vacuum cleaners.
Judge Matthew Nicklin said there was no dispute that the broadcast referred to Dyson, the 75-year-old inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, but it did not convey any meaning that was defamatory of him.
“The broadcast is simply not about him, and no ordinary reasonable viewer could conclude that he was being in any way criticised,” he said in a judgment published today.
He also ruled that the broadcast did not refer to the subsidiary companies, but added that it could be possible for Dyson to put forward a revised claim on behalf of the two or for a claim to be bought by other companies in the Dyson group. — Reuters
